Thread #106: Jim’s in a jam, Peggy’s made a pickle and Lexi is blooming - sounds like the entries are lining up for this year’s flower and produce show, but who will be on the organising committee?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: //www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to LillianGish for the title of this thread.

Holding episode tonight, I thought - not much progress on any current storyline. I was a touch surprised Natasha wasn't offended by the postnup idea but I suspect she's biding her time.

[BertrandRussell]

So Batasha’s gone all reasonable again......

[BertrandRussell]

That was a Freudian typo!

[R4]

Thanks Gasp0de.

If Gnasher has faith that the App and the Orchard Village and suchlike will make megabucks then perhaps she thinks that Pat has just scored an own goal - Bridge Farm can't make a claim on Tom'nTash International plc.

[MikeUniformMike]

Is it just me thinking that Shula is going to miss Alastair.
Batasha is a good typo. If Batgnasher is into makeovers and things why doesn't she become a lip filler consultant. She'd make a packet.
There's be more trouts than the Am.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Thanks Gasp0

[AskingQuestionsAllTheTime]

I think Natasha doesn't want Tom having any claim on her flourishing fruit-juice business when she leaves him, myself.

Now I shall go and have a bath after flourishing that fruit-juice, it's gone in my hair.

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, Gasp0de, you are indeed a wonder, although I've no idea if you are dog.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Sadly not, DDD! I like dogs - from a distance. I am most definitely not a cat person.

[DadDadDad]

What I'm wondering about is Shula's complete lack of curiosity. Why didn't she ask Alistair what he knows about Harold or even do some ringing around to find out the story there. It's as if she seems puzzled as to why Jim is upset, failing to notice the small clue that he PUNCHED A KEYBOARD TO PIECES when he heard that a certain person had been playing it!

[Fink]

Thanks for the thread, Gaspode.

I agree with R4 (and something similar was said by a pp when the idea of a postnup first came up) that Natasha is probably confident in her own future success and would agree to Tom not getting a share of that, should they split. I hope, for the sake of undoing some of the TASWAMA nonsense, that this proves to be true (or that they don't split at all and have a long and happy marriage despite all the ominous signposting).

[MereDintofPandiculation]

he PUNCHED A KEYBOARD TO PIECES Quite impressive for an 80 year old. I don't think I could get mine into pieces without a weapon. Keyboards with a full piano keyboard are pretty tough.

Why is Jim in a hurry? What is he doing? I don't think he's just using "busy" as a way of fending off people, I think he is genuinely busy. Is he packing up getting ready to leave Ambridge forever with no forwarding address (and no need for the SWs to come up with a convincing explanation of wheelchair man)?

[campion]

Why didn't Shula tell Al about the keyboard fgs? The main detail yet she pussyfooted round with oblique 'concerns'.
Any normal person would've been straight onto him with chapter and verse.

Also...why does every door being shut in Ambridge sound like a lightweight garden gate?

[echt]

The post nuptial discussion made me grit my teeth when Pat pronounced it "nuptual". I nearly went nucular.

In other news did Gnasher really have to tell Tom to shut up like that. Or at all?

[DoctorTwo]

The Prof's (thanks jazzer) meltdown was wonderfully done.

[Motoko]

Thanks for the new thread Gasp0de.

I don't know why Shula didn't let Alistair know how serious it is. She didn't have to tell him about the keyboard, but she could have told him about Harold being the cause of Jim's distress, and let him know that his emotions were all over the place. She needs to get it across to Al that it's not just a case of his dad being a dick because he didn't want a party.

I'm also not sure that she should keep Jim's outburst from Alistair. It's not like Jim likes her anyway, so what does it matter if he realises she told Al. The important thing is making sure he gets help for whatever it is.

I'm glad Natasha agreed with the post-nup. It's in her best interests as well, as she realises. Tom was annoying though, not letting anyone get a word in edgewise, while he was ranting.

It's a well worn trope that the SW use far, far, too often. Alistair was doing it as well in this episode, when Shula went to see him, even though he knew she was there because she needed to talk to him, and he didn't have much time to spare. But instead of saying to her "What was so urgent that you needed to speak to me right away?" he was just droning on and on about his night staying with Jakob. It was totally unnecessary to the plotline, and I wish they wouldn't use it so often.

[Motoko]

I don't think Jim punched the keyboard. Surely it would make more sense to smash it against the wall or floor, with all your weight behind it? If he punched it, his hand would be black and blue, and possibly with broken bones, which would have been very obvious to Alistair.

I thought he just said he was in a hurry to get rid of Alistair, but I suppose he could be thinking of leaving, either Ambridge, or more drastically, something permanent, iykwim.

[DadDadDad]

You're right, he probably didn't punch it - it's a bit hard to tell on radio. I was just going for a dramatic turn of phrase.

Is Shula trying to show Jim that he can trust her by sticking to his request not to talk about what happened with the keyboard?

[InkySplatter]

Thanks for the new thread wonderdog. Another great title LillianG

Wasn't Jim in a hurry to get to the tip to dispose of his tainted, shattered keyboard?

I think Alastair's reaction is understandable because he has his own baggage (And plenty of it) when it comes to their relationship. He can't see Jim's pain for his own over his rejection by his father and his disappointment that just as they were becoming close things are inexplicably worse than ever. Jim has historically been aloof so this distancing tinged with cruelty is par of the course for him. So much the worse for them having grown closer.

[5000FlapjacksofJillArcher]

What I can't understand is why Alastair and Shula aren't having exactly the worried conversations we're having on here about Jim. His behaviour's so extreme and out of character that it's clearly not just a case of 'oh, typical grumpy Jim!' - but they don't quite seem to be getting that, or at least didn't until Shula witnessed Keyboard-Gate.

Even then, as pointed out upthread, Shula didn't give Alastair the essential details, so he didn't take it seriously. But surely they can hear the distress and panic in Jim's voice? It's blindingly obvious to me (good acting from John Rowe) - why not to them? This is where it's not ringing true to me. There's so obviously something big that's wrong.

[Motoko]

Exactly 5000, it just wouldn't happen like that.

I do think Shula didn't tell Alistair due to some sort of confidentiality of the "confessional/therapy session" type of thing, as Jim asked her not to, but getting him help is more important than Jim trusting her, after this.

[EBearhug]

Just checking in...

[QuaterMiss]

Thanks Gasp0 and Lil’G - another wonderful title and opening!

Apparently I have to be out tonight ...

[5000FlapjacksofJillArcher]

Yes, Motoko, she needn't have said 'your Dad went into a frenzy and smashed his keyboard to pieces', but she could have said, for example, 'I'm now very seriously worried that it's far more of an issue than we all thought, to a level that indicates deep trauma, and Jim is in acute distress'. For example.

And why aren't they racking their brains trying to puzzle out what triggered him at the party, when that's now so obviously what happened?

[LizziesTwin]

Thank you for the new thread, I think I didn’t post at all on the last one and had to keep hunting for it. Sometimes other people say everything I want to before me .

[LillianGish]

Thanks for the new thread Gaspode. I agree Shula and Alistair should be speculating in the same way that we are - going over the facts of the party, adding in the new info including wheelchair man’s name, trying to find out who he was since he wasn’t invited and Shula would definitely be sharing the information about Jim’s reaction and the smashed keyboard. Much more interesting and important than recounting a tedious conversation about parking spaces with Jacob. Even if Shula felt a duty of confidentiality towards Jim (she’s not a priest yet for goodness sake, but seems to have delusions of grandeur) I’m sure she would feel she could share her concerns with Al.